Behavioral and Psychological Approaches to Breathing Disorders

Front Cover
R. Ley, B.H. Timmons
Springer Science & Business Media, Jun 29, 2013 - Psychology - 321 pages
We start life with a breath, and the process continues automatically for the rest of our lives. Because breathing continues on its own, without our awareness, it does not necessarily mean that it is always functioning for optimum mental and physical health. The opposite is true often. The problem with breathing is that it seems so easy and natural that we rarely give it a second thought. We breathe: we inhale, we exhale. What could be simpler? But behind that simple act lies a process that affects us profoundly. It affects the way we think and feel, the quality of what we create, and how we function in our daily life. Breathing affects our psychological and physiological states, while our psychological states affect the pattern of our breathing. For example, when anxious, we tend to hold our breath and speak at the end of inspiration in a high-pitched voice. Depressed people tend to sigh and speak at the end of expiration in a low-toned voice. A child having a temper tantrum holds his or her breath until blue in the face. Hyperven tilation causes not only anxiety but also such a variety of symptoms that patients can go from one specialty department to another until a wise clinician spots the abnormal breathing pattern and the patient is successfully trained to shift from maladaptive to normal breathing behavior.
 

Contents

Introduction
1
Nasopulmonary Physiology
47
Behavioral Perspectives on Abnormalities of Breathing during Sleep
59
Control of Breathing and Its Disorders
67
Goals of Normal Automatic Regulation and Effects of Failure
73
Breathing and the Psychology of Emotion Cognition and Behavior
81
Hyperventilation Cognition and Conditioned Emotions
89
Diagnosis and Organic Causes of Symptomatic Hyperventilation
99
70
183
Respiratory System Involvement in Western Relaxation
191
Abdominal Breathing
197
Behavioral Management of Asthma
205
Respiratory Practices in Yoga
221
Comparison of Pranayama and Mechanically
227
Styles of Breathing in Reichian Therapy
233
Words of Caution for Therapists
241

Physiological Considerations
113
Psychiatric and Respiratory Aspects of Functional
125
Assessment
132
xxii
139
Summary
146
Concluding Remarks
153
68
155
Breathing and Vocal Dysfunction
179
Breathing Therapy
253
BreathingRelated Issues in Therapy
261
72
292
Publications of the Symposia on Respiratory
293
Subject Index
301
72
303
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